A twice-yearly injection proves effective in combating AIDs

Twice-yearly shots used to treat AIDS have proved 100% effective in preventing new infections in women, according to a recent study.

Researchers had carried out the test on 5,000 South African and Ugandan young women. According to the report, roughly 2% of those tested ended up catching HIV from infected sex partners. The report was published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

“To see this level of protection is stunning,” said Salim Abdool Karim, director of an AIDS research center in Durban, South Africa.

The shots made by U.S. drugmaker Gilead and sold as Sunlenca are approved in the U.S., Canada, Europe and elsewhere, but only as a treatment for HIV.

The company said it is waiting for results of testing in men before seeking permission to use it to protect against infection. Because of the surprisingly encouraging results, the study was stopped early and all participants were offered the shots, known as lenacapavir.

The prospect of a twice-a-year shot is “quite revolutionary news” for our patients, said Thandeka Nkosi, who helped run the Gilead research at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation in Masiphumelele, South Africa. “It gives participants a choice and it just eliminates the whole stigma around taking pills” to prevent HIV, he said.

Credit: Associated Press